Swimming Notebook: Schuylkill League’s divers set to kick off postseason Friday
The Blue Mountain boys' and girls' swim teams pose on the diving board at the Glen Belmont Natatorium after defeating Mahanoy Area on Thursday night to each finish the regular season unbeaten in league play (Photo by Leeza Bartol).
The Schuylkill League swimming dual-meet season is over.
It’s time for the postseason.
Another Schuylkill League swimming dual-meet season has come and gone, with Blue Mountain again hoisting both the boys’ and girls’ championship trophies.
The Eagles extended their girls’ league win streak to 112 meets and captured their 11th straight league title, going 12-0. The Blue Mountain boys equaled that 12-0 mark, winning the league crown for the seventh straight time. They’ve won 72 straight league dual meets.
Congratulations to both squads.
Up next is the exciting time of the swimming season — the postseason. And considering the past couple of years, it should be another banner one.
For the divers, the postseason begins this Friday with the Schuylkill League Diving Championships scheduled for 4 p.m. at North Schuylkill’s Donald Bricker Natatorium.
Pottsville’s Adam Klinger (boys) and Blue Mountain’s Hailey Scheuer (girls) are the defending champions of the 11-dive event and are heavy favorites to retain their crowns after each winning at the Schuylkill League Diving Invitational held Jan. 26 at Blue Mountain’s Glen Belmont Natatorium.
Tamaqua’s Vinny Valentine, the 2023 champion, is expected to be Klinger’s main challenger. Scheuer will battle a much deeper field, with North Schuylkill’s Joyce Burian and Blue Mountain’s Shyanna White and Kamryn Moran among the top contenders.
The divers continue their postseason Saturday, Feb. 22, at the District 11 Diving Championships at Emmaus High School. From there, the top two finishers in each classification advance to the PIAA State Diving Championships, to be held in conjunction with the state swim meet March 12-13 at Bucknell University.
The swimmers take center stage Saturday, Feb. 15, when the league’s teams gather at the Ned Hampford Natatorium for the Schuylkill League Swimming Championships. The seeding meeting for leagues is Thursday, so T102SportsNow.com will have the pairings for each race posted sometime this weekend.
From there, it’s the District 11 Swimming Championships on Feb. 28-March 1 at Parkland High School, then the PIAA Swimming Championships set for March 12-13 at Bucknell.
As usual, there are several storylines entering the swimming postseason:
** Can Blue Mountain repeat as the boys’ and girls’ District 11 team champions?
** Can Noah Powers win a third (and fourth?) state gold?
** Can Klinger dive his way to the podium at states?
All questions that will be answered over the next month as the Schuylkill League’s swimmers begin their quest for postseason gold.
Klinger re-writes Pottsville record again
Speaking of Klinger, the Pottsville junior broke his own school record in the 11-dive competition at Saturday’s Cedar Crest Invitational in Allentown.
Klinger placed first out of 10 male divers at the event, finishing with 453 points. That breaks his old mark of 444.15 set Jan. 25 at the Flips of Fury at Parkland.
Klinger won by 53.5 points over second-place Brad Kunz of Parkland (399.50), with Northwestern Lehigh’s Hayden Slaski taking third (398.20). Divers from Emmaus, Abington Heights and La Salle College High School also competed.
Schuylkill League Top Times
Posted below are the updated top times for both boys’ and girls’ swimmers and divers in the Schuylkill League. This will be the last list of top times until the season is concluded.
Attached to the top times list is the final Schuylkill League team standings, minus Schuylkill Haven’s non-league meet with Moravian Academy slated for Feb. 11.
Schuylkill League Swimming Top Times
(Through meets held Feb. 4)
BOYS
200 medley relay — Blue Mountain (Moyer, Powers, Sarnes, Varney), 1:42.24
200 freestyle — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 1:45.21
200 IM — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 1:56.65
50 freestyle — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 20.52
6-Dive — Adam Klinger (Pottsville), 277.20
11-Dive — Adam Klinger (Pottsville), 453.00
100 butterfly — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 52.02
100 freestyle — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 45.75
500 freestyle — Porter Sarnes (Blue Mountain), 4:55.81
200 freestyle relay — Blue Mountain (Scala, Moyer, Varney, Powers), 1:30.94
100 backstroke — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 51.86
100 breaststroke — Noah Powers (Blue Mountain), 59.66
400 freestyle relay — Blue Mountain (Varney, Kamarousky, Moyer, Powers), 3:25.93
GIRLS
200 medley relay — Blue Mountain (Kaplafka, Hensel, Lafko, J. Crossen), 1:59.93
200 freestyle — Lydia Strucko (Marian), 2:02.32
200 IM — Lydia Strucko (Marian), 2:12.61
50 freestyle — Sage Kaplafka (Blue Mountain), 25.14
6-Dive — Hailey Scheuer (Blue Mountain), 208.50
11-Dive — Hailey Scheuer (Blue Mountain), 344.80
100 butterfly — Lydia Strucko (Marian), 59.85
100 freestyle — Sage Kaplafka (Blue Mountain), 55.07
500 freestyle — Lillian Brown (Mahanoy Area), 5:39.58
200 freestyle relay — Blue Mountain (Hensel, Lafko, J. Crossen, Kaplafka), 1:46.43
100 backstroke — Lydia Strucko (Marian), 58.63
100 breaststroke — Savannah Wilson (Tamaqua), 1:09.18
400 freestyle relay — Blue Mountain (Lafko, J. Crossen, Hensel, Kaplafka), 3:58.04
